Assam: Lack of seats may turn school, college admission season chaotic

GUWAHATI: Shortage of seats in colleges and higher secondary schools in Assam may compel thousands of students to pursue higher education through the open and distance mode of learning.
Against a total of about 6.55 lakh students, who cleared the Class X and XII state board exams this year, it may not be possible to accommodate more than approximately 3.6 lakh students in Class XI and the first year of undergraduate courses.
Even though the government has asked colleges not to charge fees for online applications, lack of a uniform admission policy may create chaos during admission time. “Those who cannot be enrolled may have to opt for the open and distance mode of education of universities,” said Assam College Teachers’ Association (Acta) general secretary, Himangshu Maral.
Students are in a dilemma as the prestigious Cotton University is yet to open the admission process. Moreover, some other leading colleges in Guwahati, like the B Borooah College, have not yet finalized the dates of admission and said they were waiting for some government directive related to admissions.
The only relief that may come for students is free-admission in provincialized and government model colleges, though no solution has evolved in absorbing all the pass-outs in higher classes. The Assam directorate of higher education has asked principals of all provincialized, government-run Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Adarsha Mahavidyalaya and government model colleges in the state not to charge any amount with regard to online application in the higher secondary and degree classes in colleges.
Education minister Ranoj Pegu had recently put the onus on respective colleges to enroll students. However, lack of a clear policy to accommodate all the passouts may push a large number of students towards an uncertain future. All Assam Students’ Union vice-president, Utpal Sarma, has demanded the government to present a clear picture on the total intake capacity in higher secondary and at the undergraduate level across Assam against the number of pass outs. “The state education department must clarify the formula to accommodate all students who have passed out,” he said.
With a higher pass percentage across the country, many meritorious students may take admission in the state's leading colleges since the cut-off in Delhi is expected to be unusually high this year. Education minister Pegu recently said that in government and provincialized colleges, there are about 1.7 lakh seats, though the data for private educational institutions was not available with him.
Sources in the education department said including the intake capacity of Class XI students in government schools, seats in medical, engineering and polytechnic institutions and private colleges, a maximum of 3.6 lakh students can be accommodated in the state.
“Even if we leave out the students going outside the region for studying and those who are not going to pursue higher education, more than two lakh students are likely to be deprived of admission in the state,” said Nirangkush Nath, general secretary of SFI’s Assam unit.